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S&M Show Podcast

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New SPACs - Terragali & Australaysia; Goldis-IGB; Excessive directors' compensation.

http://www.bfm.my/sm-salvatore-dali-malaysiafinance-spacs-overpaid-directors.html

http://www.bfm.my/snm-show.html

Thought For The Day

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Why So Few Female Traders

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When you speak off the cuff, silly sounding things can pop out. Thats why I am so reluctantly to speak quickly over the radio, and I need pauses so that i don't say things such as those said by Paul Tudor Jones.

Paul Tudor Jones, the billionaire hedge fund manager, at a charity fund-raiser in 2008.


For a billionaire hedge fund manager who carefully manages his public image, Paul Tudor Jones had a minor crisis on his hands. Mr. Jones, a billionaire and philanthropist of legendary stature in the minds of many Wall Street traders, was forced on Thursday to explain what he meant in remarks that surfaced in a video published by The Washington Post. The video, depicting a University of Virginia symposium in April, shows Mr. Jones trying to explain why there is a scarcity of female traders.

�As soon as that baby�s lips touch that girl�s bosom, forget it,� Mr. Jones, who has three daughters, says in the video. �Every single investment idea, every desire to understand what�s going to make this go up or go down, is going to be overwhelmed by the most beautiful experience, which a man will never share, about a mode of connection between that mother and that baby.�

�I�ve just seen it happen over and over,� he added. �I�m talking about trading, not managing.� The video was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

His comments went viral online and were widely criticized. In an e-mail sent to news outlets, Mr. Jones said he was speaking �off the cuff� and referring in particular to �global macro traders,� who work across multiple markets.

�Macro trading requires a high degree of skill, focus and repetition,� Mr. Jones said by way of clarification. �Life events, such as birth, divorce, death of a loved one and other emotional highs and lows are obstacles to success in this specific field of finance.� He added that success was possible �as long as a woman or man has the skill, passion, and repetitions to work through the inevitable life events that arise along the way.�

The episode was an uncomfortable turn for Mr. Jones, who earlier this month was called a �modern-day Robin Hood� by CBS News�s �60 Minutes� in a report on the financier�s charitable foundation.

Watching the video, there was a �pit in my stomach of how 1950s that is,� Alexandra Lebenthal, chief executive of the financial firm Lebenthal & Company, said on MSNBC�s �Morning Joe� on Friday.

�I�m not sure that bonding experience of breastfeeding is all that wonderful,� Ms. Lebenthal added.

Joanna Coles, editor in chief of Cosmopolitan, said on MSNBC: �What you see in this is actually what a lot of men on Wall Street still actually think.�

Mr. Jones�s theory is �scientifically unsound,� Simone Foxman said in Quartz. �Women don�t produce as much cortisol when in risky situations and therefore � theoretically at least � aren�t as likely to be as overwhelmed by negative emotions.�

My View is that there is some truth in it, but very little in effect. Let's be honest, Paul is not the person who created the financial trading system, he merely commented on the reality. Truth be told, most good traders who happen to be men, are also mostly dead inside. Nuff said. The ability to focus and block out other thoughts and considerations are paramount to be a great trader. Let's be frank, how many of us can do that without our minds wondering and wandering. Great traders usually have very empty lives, have to keep drowning their hollow soul with liquor and checking their bank balance gives them the kind of temporary adrenaline high to remind themselves falsely that what they are doing is worthwhile.

The reason why most great traders are men lies in the society structure and biases - men still have certain advantages in terms of "old boys network", and preferential treatment when hiring traders. The whole system is geared towards a brutal Darwinian elimination process. Only the good survive the industry. When you have 980 men and 20 women in trading positions to start with ... isn't it normal to see the top ten traders being largely men, maybe 9/10 or even 10/10.




The Silent Movie Man - Speaks For All

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Everyone has seen some Charlie Chaplin movies, they were great and still are. That alone would have suffice in leaving a wonderful legacy of a life well lived. Not many has even heard of him speak, but if you watch his only snippet from The Great Dictator, where he spoke in his movie for the first and only time, ever ... you know he has an even greater soul. While disguised as part of a movie script, its blatantly obvious that he chose that one instance, that one platform to voice his important empathetic view - funny how much of that speech is still so relevant for so many people in so many places, ours included.

Good day to you, Sir Charlie Chaplin ....



Another example of his great talent, he composed the music to Smile ... Michael Jackson's favourite song of all time. Charlie Chaplin, a man so devoted to make us all laugh, must have known what hurt is to come up with these two important contributions during his life on earth.

S&M Podcast

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http://www.bfm.my/snm-show.html

Penang second link, stb2, tambun, E&O, thheavy vs cliq

Gotta Watch This - Miyoko Shida Rigolo

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This is an exceptional piece of performance art. In fact, it is so much more than just exhibiting the powers of concentration. It is art definitely, loaded with meanings and inflections. The inter-connectedness of everything in life, its delicate balance ... seemingly unimportant (feather) yet it holds everything together. Its beautiful, moving and thought provoking.

New Darling Stock In The Making?

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Now we get an idea of whats been driving up the shares of Instacom. The Company also released its first quarter results last Tuesday with revenue of RM30.2m and PAT of RM6.8m. Annualising its PAT would yield a projected year end profits of RM27.2m. 


At last Friday's close of 39.5c, that's a PE of 10 times, which for a growth stock in an exciting rapidly growing and constantly transforming telecommunications industry is fairly reasonable. Some may argue its still cheap as PE of 15 to 18 times is normally par for course for the Telco industry across the region. That would translate in to a price range of 58c to 68c. 


This has not even factored in the earnings contribution from the RM205m as highlighted in the STAR or EDGE today yet. Potentially Instacom can be a GEM as a valued investment stock. You do the calculations and derive your own conclusion based on your risk averse outlook and your balanced portfolio considerations. 

If you assume that it yields just 15% net margins over 3 years, that is RM30.75m or roughly an additional RM10m net a year.

Current number of 20 sen shares: 702.25m
For argument's sake, lets just take RM6m net per quarter, annualised = RM24m
Plus the new project = RM10m = RM34m
Net EPS = 4.8 sen

40 sen     8.3x
45 sen     9.3x
50 sen     10.4x
55 sen     11.4x
60 sen     12.5x

The other question is whether the project is a one off. If you look into the telcos' plans, there are nearly every single telco (Celcom, Maxis, DIGI, etc..) plans to spend an additional RM300m -RM1bn each over the next 12 months. It would be silly to think they would not be getting some of these as the company is heads and shoulders above the rest in its sub-industry in terms of time execution and delivery of projects.

The company could very well be the new darling stock for the rest of the year.



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